"I was impressed when he came back that first of all he did not miss a beat," Caldwell added. "He's a very, very smart guy. You could tell he's worked at it even during the summer."

One reason Caldwell and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi were brought in was to help improve Stafford's sometimes wayward mechanics, which were often excused by the last regime. The head coach said his quarterback has displayed positive developments in that area.

"In every facet when he came back, I could see improvement -- footwork, accuracy, timing, command of the offense, all of those things," Caldwell said. "Now we get a chance to see if we can put it together a little bit more, add a few more things, keep progressing and then get some real challenges from our opposition as we start preseason."

Stafford must continue to show improvement if the Lions are to make any noise in the NFC North. Last season we saw the signal-caller self-destruct far too often, especially when the field began to tilt against him.

The offseason focus on Stafford seems to have gotten some good early returns, but the Lions now need late-December returns from their highly paid quarterback.